New sectors accelerate China's industrial growth in 2017

The strong performance was largely attributed to the sharp growth of new manufacturing sectors such as industrial robots, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

New-energy vehicles, industrial robots, solar power and integrated circuit outshone most other industries in terms of output in 2017, growing 51.1 percent, 68.1 percent, 38 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively, year on year.

On the other hand, mining and cement sectors saw their output decline 1.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while the textile and coal industries grew only 4 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 3.1 million U.S. dollars).